In the summer of 2026, the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation acquired at auction a charter issued by the Chapter of Vasvár in 1591. We found the document, concerning the young nobleman István Sárkány of Ákosháza (‘Sárkány’ means ‘Dragon’ in Hungarian), whose family held estates in several counties of western Hungary, particularly interesting for several reasons. On the one hand, it preserves information about a family that had already given the Kingdom of Hungary a Judge Royal in the person of Ambrus Sárkány, who fell at the Battle of Mohács and held that office between 1524 and 1525, and whose members continued to play an important role in the affairs of Zala and the surrounding counties. On the other hand, István Sárkány later became a well-known representative of the border-fortress warriors of the seventeenth century. Until his death in 1636, he devoted almost his entire adult life to the defence of the fortress of Kiskomárom in Zala County (present-day Zalakomár), first as vice-captain between 1603 and 1621 and then as captain from 1621 until 1636.[1]
In the charter, dated 8 June 1591, István Sárkány—who, as we know, was fourteen and a half years old at the time[2]—states that following the death of his father, János, in 1584,[3] he had already entrusted himself and his property to his relative Ferenc Zichy, who had supported him in every respect. In the meantime, however, his mother, Anna Hagymás of Berekszó, and Gáspár Darabos of Nádasd persuaded him to alienate his estates. István evidently came to regret this decision, for he now once again entrusted Zichy with guardianship over his person and the management of his property—“if, alas, anything of it still remains.”
The charter uses the Latin term affinis to describe the relationship between István and Ferenc Zichy, a word which in this period usually denoted a relationship by marriage rather than blood kinship. According to the genealogical handbook of Iván Nagy—which today must certainly be used with considerable caution—Ferenc, a member of the lesser noble branch of the Zichy family, was married to Zsuzsanna Sárkány.[4] We may therefore suppose that István appointed the husband of his aunt as his guardian.
If this were all we knew about István Sárkány’s affairs, we might simply assume that the young nobleman, who had not yet reached legal age, had become involved in a dispute with his mother over his guardianship and, consequently, the administration of his property. The situation, however, was considerably more complicated. The trail leads us to Sopron.
A few months earlier, in the spring of 1591, István Sárkány had complained before the court of Emperor and King Rudolf in Pressburg (present-day Bratislava) that the town council of Sopron would not allow him to sell his house in the town and two farms in the suburbs, even though he wished to use the proceeds to purchase more valuable estates. The royal mandate therefore ordered the town either to purchase the properties itself or to permit the conclusion of contracts for their sale or mortgage.[5] Sopron responded with an extensive petition to the ruler in which, having also sought the advice of lawyers, the town authorities explained why they were unable to comply with the royal command. Their arguments also help us to understand the document acquired by the Foundation.
The town first pointed out that the young nobleman had previously declared before the council that Ferenc Zichy was his guardian. They therefore had no way of knowing by what authority Gáspár Darabos, who now presented himself as István’s guardian, was attempting to arrange the sale of the house and farms. Nor could they permit the transaction merely on the claim that the proceeds would be used to purchase more valuable properties for the young man in Transylvania or Styria.
Moreover, István had a sister, Orsolya, around twelve years of age, who was likewise an heir to the properties in Sopron. The council also drew attention to the fact that the young István wished to sell his estates one day and objected to their sale the next—evidently under the influence of different people around him. Among other arguments, the Sopron council finally declared that since the orphans’ father and his uncle, Antal Sárkány, had both been citizens of Sopron, the town authorities were ultimately the children’s principal protectors and could not allow the young István to act rashly to his own detriment and that of his sister. They even invoked the Tripartitum, according to which István was in any event unable to alienate his property before reaching the age of twenty-four.[6]
Behind the case we can discern a struggle between Gáspár Darabos, who—with the support of István’s mother—sought to obtain guardianship over the teenager, and his uncle by marriage, Ferenc Zichy, with both sides attempting, with varying degrees of success, to win István over. According to the charter of the summer of 1591, now rescued by the Foundation, it was ultimately Zichy who gained István Sárkány’s confidence.
Perhaps it was thanks to this that the house in Sopron also remained in the possession of the Sárkány family. Its existence alone indicates the considerable fortune inherited by István. The house stood on the town’s main square and had been rebuilt by Antal Sárkány in the 1560s into what a modern architectural historian has described as Sopron’s “first monumental Renaissance town house.”[7] After the extinction of the Sárkány family, the property first passed to the Festetics family, who had married into the Sárkánys and subsequently remodelled the building. In the nineteenth century it came into the possession of the Swiss-born Storno family. Today, known as the Storno House, it is one of the architectural treasures of Sopron’s historic centre.[8]
In view of the fact that most of István Sárkány’s estates, as well as his life and career as a whole, were closely connected with Zala County, the Foundation donated the 1591 charter to the Zala County Archives of the National Archives of Hungary.
Abstract of the Charter:
8 June 1591. Before the Chapter of Vasvár, István (nob.), son of the late János Sárkány of Ákosháza (egr.), declared that not long before, having been deprived of his father, he had by another charter of the Chapter appointed his relative (affinis), Ferenc Zichy (egr.), who had always shown himself helpful towards him, as guardian, custodian, and protector of his person and of all his rights of possession and shares in estates. Thereafter, however, his mother, Anna Hagymás of Berekszó (gen. dom.), and Gáspár Darabos of Nádasd [… …] persuaded him, in the folly of his youth, to sell and alienate all his rights of possession and shares in estates, at a time when Ferenc Zichy had not yet taken possession of the charter appointing him guardian. Now, however, recalling once more Zichy’s many acts of kindness, he is compelled to turn again to his kinsman’s benevolence and appoints him lawful guardian, protector, and custodian of his person and of his remaining goods, rights of possession, and shares in estates—“if, alas, anything still remains”—until he reaches a more mature age. He grants Ferenc full authority to perform this duty freely, on the condition that until Ferenc has received satisfaction for all expenses incurred on István’s person, the conduct of his affairs, or the recovery of his property rights, he may retain possession of all István’s movable and immovable goods. Once they have settled their accounts and Ferenc has received satisfaction, however, he is to return them to István. Dat. in Methardi martiris, 1591. (The tens digit of the date is lost where the document is torn: anno Domini millesimo quingentesim[… …]mo primo; it can only be reconstructed from the summary on the reverse.)
The charter survives on torn, incomplete, and stained paper. On the reverse is a well-preserved seal beneath a paper cover. Beneath the text appears the note: Lecta per capitulum et ubique correcta propria manu notarii. The reverse also bears eighteenth-century summaries of the contents in Hungarian and Latin. Former reference number: no. 23.
Tibor Neumann
[1] On his career at Kiskomárom, see Róbert József Szvitek, Kiskomárom végvár szerepe a dél-dunántúli védelmi rendszerben. Doctoral dissertation, ELTE Faculty of Humanities, Budapest, 2008, passim; cf. Bence Gonda, “Sárkányok a Kanizsával szembeni végvidéken. Katonai karriertörténetek vázlata a 17. századból,” Aetas 39 (2023), no. 4, 135–149.
[2] Jenő Házi, Soproni polgárcsaládok 1535–1848, vol. 2. Budapest, 1982, 776.
[3] Ibid. Cf. Irén Bilkei, “Okleveles adatok az ákosházi Sárkány család XVI. századi történetéhez,” in Zalai történeti tanulmányok – Zalai Gyűjtemény 35. Zalaegerszeg, 1994, 12.
[4] Iván Nagy, Magyarország családai. Czímerekkel és nemzedékrendi táblákkal, vol. XII. Pest, 1865, 479.
[5] EOL AGE IV. e. 13. 8. pp. 376–378. Online: https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/EOL_AGE_04_e_13_08/?pg=381&layout=s
[6] Ibid. pp. 378–382.
[7] István Kelemen, “A Storno-ház 16–18. századi építéstörténete,” Soproni Szemle 71 (2017), 346.
[8] Ibid. 346–354.